Breaking Clay
by RedCinders
Summary: M/A Max breaks (in more ways than one), and Alec picks up the pieces. {Latest Ch. Summary} He thought he lost her, and now emotions are running high. Will some unfortunate circumstances bring two people closer together?
1. Soon

  
  
  
**Disclaimer:** Oh, um..James Cameron. Dark Angel characters are yours? Oh, um, I didn't know. I swear! Please don't sue me! You'll never get my CDs! NEVERRRR!   
**Rating:** PG13 Ok, not to long ago, I was promising some juicy A/M NC17 action. Now I'm a bit worried about taking this fic in that direction since I'm only fourteen with extremely limited experience, and it's hard for me to write about something I dont know very much about. Hmm..will their be some M/A NC17 loving here? I guess only if my muses deem fit.   
**Summary:** Logan cheats, Max breaks down, and Alec picks up the pieces. Can he put them together?   
**Pairing:** Max/Alec cause they're too purrfect for each other.   
**Reviews:**: Yes YES YESSS! Gimme please! I use you guys' feeback to tell me if I should right more.   
***Warning*:** All you Logan lovers, no flames please. Don't e-mail me saying something like "logan would so not do antyhing like that you suck i hate u! LoGaNmAx4eVa!" mmmk?   
  
  
"Hurry up Alec." Max ordered. It was enough that she had to bring him along on *her* mission. No chance she was gonna let him slow down.   
  
"Wait up. What's the rush?" He paused for a moment. "Wait, isn't this.."   
  
"Logan's apartment, and the rush is I need to know if he found out anything new about White's location." She snapped as she climbed up the stairs and started down the corridor to Logan's place. Alec was trailing behind her. Something about Alec always got under Max's skin. He was irritating, annoying, and a whole lot of negative adjectives along with that, but for some reason she couldn't hate him. He was...fun, sometimes caring, and totally confusing.   
  
Max was about to push open the door to Logan's apartment when she was interrupted by a moan, then another, of higher pitch. Suddenly Max's heart sunk. She was scared, Alec had noted in his mind. Her breath became rapid and he face pale. They both anticipated what the noises meant, and they both knew what it insinuated. They looked to each other, for a moment and Alec seemed to urge her to go on. Max and Logan had a huge argument at the crash a week ago and ever since then they had been strictly business. Max had good reason to be more than worried about what she might find.   
  
"Max! Wait!" Logan yelled from the top of the unknown female form. To late, because Max, tears pooling in her eyes bolted out the door at inhuman speeds. Alec stood there looking at Logan, feeling nothing but contempt.   
  
"What are you waiting for. Aren't you gonna go after her!" Alec yelled. Logan went to action clumsily getting out of bed, tripping on the sheets and the random female below him. This was taking to much time. Alec bolted out the door. Max ran, and ran and ran some more, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. They had a fight, a huge monumental fight. Max had said maybe it would be better if they took some time apart, but she didn't mean...this. "How could you do this to me Logan." Her thoughts screamed. The rain pounded down on the concrete pavement, much like her feet. Even as it poured down on her matting her hair, feeling as if it we're clawing at her face it still couldn't wash away the stain of tears.   
  
Soon she was too exhausted to go anymore, and she stopped, panting, hands on her knees. Clasping her hand over her mouth, and pressing shut her eyes in a feeble effort to control her sorrow. She sat herself down, puddle or no puddle, and leaned against the tire of some car. She wept, huddled there, soaking wet by the time Alec had caught up.   
  
She had heard him long before she could muster the energy to turn and face him. She heard his erratic breathing, that came from running too fast too long, and she heard his hesitant footsteps coming toward her, smacking against the ocean of puddles formed by the rain. He knelt down beside her, for what seemed like seconds but could've been hours because he too was now soaking wet. He crouched on his knees beside her till she stopped crying, and began staring into the hazy black of a rain beaten night.   
  
"Max" he chided in a hoarse whisper. She seemed so fragile he didn't want to touch her for fear she might break.   
  
"Alec.." She almost echoed "take me home".   
  
He complied. He stood her up and hugged her in his arms. Then he walked in silence to her apartment building which wasn't far away. When they reached her apartment Original Cindy wasn't home. "Wait here" Max suddenly said, voice hoarse. Her eyes were bloodshot and empty, and she stared into space as she spoke to him. He waited there, unmoving till she came back 5 minutes later in a pair of comfy looking PJs, hair dryer than before. She walked to him and suddenly halted. Looking surprised she stated.   
  
"Your wet."   
  
"It was raining" he answered with a slight smile   
  
"Oh" she responded flatly. Then almost automatically she went to him and pulled of his leather jacket. That started a strange sort of tension between them. When their eyes meet she answered raspy   
  
"You could catch something."   
  
Alec knew the chances, given his DNA structure, of him catching something was slim to none but he didn't protest. Then she pulled his gray turtleneck sweater over his head revealing his well muscled, rain dampened chest. It was still dark because she hadn't bother to turn on any lights but she couldn't help but admire the way he shone by the moonlight of her open window. In her admiration she lingered a little to long, with her eyes focused somewhere on his collarbone.   
  
"Max" he said in a tone to wake her from her trance.   
  
"huh" she answered startled, and their eyes meet. Max was so tired. She was tired of holding back and locking herself, her true self in a cage she swallowed deep inside her. She just wanted to be held and loved, and she didn't care by who. She didn't want to help herself anymore, as she bent her head and tenderly kissed his hard chest. Alec let out a ragged breath as her lips lingered there.   
  
"Max" he breathed savoring the action of the moment.   
  
She looked up at him, pleading him to take her away, along with the pain. Lost in his pent up emotion, and how deeply he loved this girl in front of him. This girl that was beaten and broken by a storm she just couldn't weather.   
  
She made him not care if it was wrong, because it felt so right. He kissed her gently, yet passionately, savoring the taste of her tongue and lips. He could barley contain himself from grabbing her, and holding her, and making her forget she even knew a guy named Logan, but he stopped. She had kissed him back, ever-so-gently, but her eyes told him she wasn't ready, even though her body pleaded him to stay. Alec mentally pounded himself for even thinking of kissing her when she was in such turmoil over her relationship with Logan.   
  
He hugged her, and kissed her softly on the forehead. "I'm sorry" he whispered into her hair. Hesitating before grabbing his things, he walked out, looking back once. When he did he saw fresh tears in her eye, tears that didn't want him to go. He still left though, and as he walked out of her apartment building he replayed a mantra in his head   
  
"Too soon, not yet"   
  
He pulled on his damp sweater on and walked out into the rain murmuring under his breath.   
  
"Too soon, Max...too soon."   
  
  
  



	2. Touched

  
  
  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine, yada yada...cept Alec of course ;-)   
**Rating:** Oh, it's innocent..for now. Muwahaha!   
**Summary:** Logan cheats, Alec picks up the pieces. Can he put them together?   
**Summery 4 Chapter:** Alec and Max muse about the events of the night. Dont worry. In the next chapter Max and Alec to more than just think.   
**Pairing:** Max/Alec cause their children would be sooo cute.   
**Reviews:** Want to read more? Then review review REVIEW!.   
***Warning*:** This isn't a Logan friendly fic. Please dont review or e-mail me complaining about the fact that it's not a Logan friendly fic.   
  
  
He paced forward in the rain. He didn't even feel it anymore, or the cold. The last thing he remembered feeling was the way Max's lips burned into his chest, and how his own lips still seared from their kiss. This was all too confusing. He'd left, and maybe lost his only chance with Max, but he knew he'd done the right thing. Getting with Max while she was sick with the poison of her relationship, ex-relationship with Logan was worse than taking her during heat induced delirium.   
  
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She relaxed into her bed, hair in a towel. Why did Logan do this to her? Even though, she wasn't surprised that Logan did. He was always so distant. Still she couldn't keep from wondering why, why why? That was the question. Alec didn't know the answer but she had wanted him to stay. Now she was happy he left, because she didn't have the strenth to tell him to leave. Why? Was it because she was lonely, and desperate, afraid to be alone. When she was alone she was vulnerable. Manticore taught her that.   
  
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He reached his apartment soon enough. He'd never taken a bath before he thought as he ran hot water into the tub, and boy did he need one now. Stoopid stoopid stoopid! Why did he have to kiss her!? Wait, no, why did she have to kiss him, and torture him with treats he couldn't have? It wasn't just her lips. It wasn't just those soft silky lips, or breasts or thighs protected in an amour plating of leather and bad attitude. It was her fire, her soul, the way he loved it when she'd tease him. It was the way she fought for everything she believed in, and sometimes those she didn't, all for the ones she loved. It was the way her smiles were so few and far between when she graced you with one it was all the more special.   
  
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She remembered how good he looked, bathed in the light of the moon. She didn't remember the rain, or the cold, but she remembered the way he held her as if she would break. She remember his kiss, and how she could tell how badly he wanted to take her. She remembered all this and it lessened the pain. She remembered, and she was thankful she did.   
  
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He sank in the warm water and ran his hands across his face. He stewed there, dreaming Max was with him.   
  
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She sunk further into bed, enjoying the warmth. Eyelids heavy with grief, her eyes closed, and she remembered.   
  
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It was they way...   
  
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She remembered...   
  
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...she felt when...   
  
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...how he felt when...   
  
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...they touched.   
  
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..they touched.   
  
  



	3. Shaken, not stirred

  
  
  
**Disclaimer:** If I had a dime for every Dark Angel character I owned, I'd still be broke SO DONT SUE ME!   
**Rating:** Pg13, for language. Where's the sex?!?! There is none..poo..but just maybe, if ya stick around. *wink wink*   
**Summary:** Logan cheats, Alec picks up the pieces. Can he put them together?   
**Summery 4 Chapter:** Imagine! Manticore had to go and screw Max's life somemore. She ends up running again. I wonder to who?   
**Pairing:** Max/Alec cause if Alec gets with Max, he'll have more screentime!!!   
**Reviews:** Thanks ya'll for the reviews! You asked, so I delivered! Enjoy.   
***Note to Readers*:** I had to change the title of this chapter from "shiver" because I was quite embarrassed to find out that I had chosen the same title that Hobbes19 did for a chapter in her story with a similar plot to this chapter. What were the odds?!?!   
  
  
"Damn." She cursed out loud. It was still raining, like it had been for the past three days. The city was flooding all over the place over this unusually lengthy downpour. The scientist blamed the stormy weather on a twisted combination of El Nino, and a fucked up Ozone layer. She leaned looking out her window. Thank God it was the weekend. She didn't think she could stand going to Jam Pony so soon after...She shook the train of thought from her head.   
  
Such a twisted chain of events happened a few nights ago in the rain. Logan had cheated on her. She still winced as if her heart contracted at the thought. She had cried and cried, and cried some more until here tears were spent. She ran a lot too. She ran and fell, and someone unexpected caught her. Her faced flushed with embarrassment. Now that her mind was clear, and she'd had a few days to muse, she felt like a total idiot. She had kissed him. Oh my God, she kissed Alec. That meant she would have to be extra mean to him to make up for it.   
  
"Stoopid, stoopid, stoopid." she murmured as she knocked her forehead on the glass plane.   
  
"How could've I been so-" she was interrupted by an involuntary shudder. A pint of worry crossed her face before she went to the couch to grab a blanket. It was always too cold in the winter, she thought before another tremor struck her, longer this time. OK, now she was worried. Manticore had taken care of the seizures when they had captured her, right? Of course she didn't have any tryptophane on hand, because she wasn't supposed to need need it, until now apparently.   
  
She straightened up and moved the fridge. She cursed again. No milk. Who was she kidding herself? Milk wouldn't cut it. She need tryptophane, and now. Unfortunately to get tryptophane you need money. Her train of thought was severed when a powerful seizure shook her and she collapsed to the floor in pain. There was some kind of gnashing at her stomach. Clutching her midsection he groaned as her eyes watered. When it passed there still remained a slighty gnawing pain. She slowly brought her self up and crawled to her phone.   
  
"Be home, be home."   
  
.::::riiiinnnng:::   
  
"You have reached the number you have dialed-click".   
  
He wasn't home, and she was almost thankful. Logan used to always keep tryptophane on hand for her just in case of an emergency, but she _really_ didn't want to see him right now. She leaned against her wall. Who else could she called? Cindy and Joshua took a much need vacation for the weekend..so that left...Alec! She dialed his number as she felt a steady building of tension in her gut, that would undoubtedly bring a more painful release. Her seizures weren't supposed to hurt like this. Leave it Manticore to make an already crappy problem worse.   
  
:::ringg, ringgg-:::::   
  
"Hello?"   
  
"Alec! Alec, listen to me, I need-click" Her mouth hung open in surprised as she gawked at her phone. Suddenly her lights flickered, then again, and this time they wouldn't turn back on. Shit, power outage. It was probably city wide, from this damn rain. She pressure in her stomach a constant reminder. She need tryptophane now...and she would have to get it.   
  
She stood herself up in the dark, and ever-so-painfully ventured out of her apartment, still wrapped in a blanket of wool. Walking through the dark hallway of her appartment complex, into the black winter night, an expression of pain smeared on her face, she looked like a lost child. Even more so than she really was.   
  
Geesh, De ja' vou. Here she was again, cold, in pain, in the rain, completely soaking wet, depending on Alec to be her savior, and this time there were seizures on top of all that. She was supposed to be stronger than this. God, if Manticore could see her now. Given the fact that the city was blacked out, in the dead of night not many people were out. She was almost glad, because she hated when people felt sorry for her. She must have looked pathetic, less than homeless. Her steps echoed, and her breath materialized. She gave a pained chuckled.   
  
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"Getting kind of old for crank calls aren't we Max?" He said before the lights went black. Damn. He hated blackouts, he thought as his light sensitive eyes adjusted. It was all this rain.   
  
She must've not meant to hang up, he realized. She probably needed his help or something like that, but knowing Max, if it was really important, she would probably come over. He pondered this. That's right. If she needed his help that badly she could just come over and ask personally. He lit some candles and sat on his couch, firm in his resolve not to leave his apartment. His resolve lasted about thirty minutes.   
  
She did _sound_ like she needed his help, and there was the chance that she couldn't get over, especially with the blackout and all. He sighs. That was enough for him. Rolling his eyes at himself, he pulled on his coat and opened his appartment door. He was startled to see Max, standing in the dark hallway before him, wet, and wrapped in some kind of blanket, looking completely pathetic.   
  
"Alec..." she gritted through her teeth.   
  
"What the hell-" He caught her in his arms as it looked like her knees would give. She was holding her stomach in both arms. She was in pain, Alec realized as he lead her inside. Before he got her to the couch she started shaking, gasping as the pressure that had been building released. She wouldn't make it to the couch so he let her lay on the floor in fetal position, in the throws of what looked like unbearable pain.   
  
Kneeling beside her, Alec was terrified. He'd never seen Max like this before, and it scared him half to death. His insides felt lodged in his throat from worry, and he could barely ask what plagued her.   
  
"Max, Max, what's wrong?" He pleaded. He choked down tears.  
  
No response.   
  
  
  
*Oooh, cliff hanger! Hehehe. Hope you all liked. This chapter was a bit less poetic than that last two. I didn't want to get caught up in detail and lose the plot you know? Oh, and for all your questions about Max/Logan's fight, and all that other stuff. It'll all be answered in later chapters So Keep Reading! lol Gotta Blaze!*   
  
  



	4. Healing {Alternative ch. 3}

  
  
  
**Disclaimer:** If I had a dime for every Dark Angel character I owned, I'd still be broke SO DONT SUE ME!   
**Rating:** Pg13, for language. Where's the sex?!?! There is none..poo..but just maybe, if ya stick around. *wink wink*   
**Summary:** Logan cheats, Alec picks up the pieces. Can he put them together?   
**Summery 4 Chapter:** Max goes back to work, and has to face Alec. Logan talks to Asha.   
**Pairing:** Max/Alec cause if Alec gets with Max, he'll have more screentime!!!   
**Reviews:** I love reviews!   
***Note to Readers*:** This is the ALTERNATIVE Ch. 3 that I wrote but didn't like. I figured I'd post it just to see what ya'll think. Which ch. 3 do you like better?   
  
  
"It was inevitable" Logan thoughtfully sighed.  
  
"How so?" She asked as she danced her finger around the rim of her Mocha Frap.  
  
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Max rushed to work. Her hair flared behind her from the wind of the cold autum day. Damn, she could really use a Cappachino. She pondered the next best course of action, stopping her bike in front of Blake's donuts and coffee. Logan always loved to go here.   
  
"Bastard" she murmered under he breath   
  
Putting her foot back on the peddle she rode on.   
  
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"It was going to happen sooner or later."   
  
"What'd you two fight about anyways?" she inquired, curiously   
  
"How I'd never see her anymore. How she was always so distant. I'd like to think it was the virus, but then I'd be lying to myself" he elaborated.   
  
// Five nights ago//   
  
Even as she heard him talk she couldn't seem to drown out the sorrowful music churning in the backround. Maybe she didn't want to drown it out.   
  
"huh?" Max snapped out of her daze   
  
"I was just asking you if you wanted to dance."   
  
"Oh, um, I'm fine." She answered.   
  
Logan studied her carefully as she said this. His brow furrows.   
  
"Max?"   
  
"Yeah." she answered again obviously detacted.   
  
"Are we...ok?"   
  
"Yeah, of course we are...why?" she lied to him and herself.   
  
"It's just, I never see you anymore, you never see me. It's not starting to bother you?"   
  
"No." Max lied again, and once more tried to lose herself in the music. She knew where he was trying to go, and she didn't want to come with.   
  
"Max." He said forcefully.   
  
"Logan, what do you want me to say?" Max started a bit defensively.   
  
"Why you've been so distant lately. I'm starting to think it's not just because of this virus."   
  
Max lets out a heavy breath. She really did not want to deal with this on top of all the things on her head. She came here to relax and she wanted this train of conversation over, fast.   
  
"Maybe it's better that way."   
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
"Look, the father away things are the less likely they'll break."   
  
"Since when are you back at Manticore Max? You distance yourself from everything you care about, you end up alone."   
  
"It isn't about that."   
  
"Your closer to Alec, someone you claim to hate, than me." Logan accused, his words comming out more angry that he expected. They both knew it was true.   
  
"Since when was this about him?"   
  
"Look, forget it Max" Logan says as he stands. She mimics his action.   
  
"What are you talking about?" She almost yelled. "Since when was this about Alec?"   
  
Logan turned to leave. He didn't need to have this conversation in front of spectators. People were starting to stare.   
  
"Logan..." She called after him. He turned and walked out. She followed him and instinctivly wrapped her arms around her to shield from the cold.   
  
"Logan, we need to talk."   
  
"That doesn't seem to be helping any Max."   
  
"Logan.." she said in a tone that slightly worried him. When she meet his eyes he knew that thier issues ran deeper than he had expected.   
  
"..maybe..maybe we should take a break."   
  
"What!?!" Logan asked dumbfounded. This isn't what he wanted out of this conversation. "What?!" he repeated.   
  
"Isn't that what you wanted?!" She yelled. Now she was getting angry.   
  
"No, what I wanted is to hear that you'll stop distancing yourself from what you love for fear you might break it."   
  
"You can't have everything Logan" She finished resentfully, before walking away. He started to follow her but didn't. In the heat of his anger he kick a dumpster near by, his action not much more pointless than continuing their relationship, Logan realized. He was tired of a Max he couldn't touch physically of emotionally.   
  
// Present day //   
  
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Rolling her bike into Jam Pony Max feels her stomach tighten involutarily. She hadn't seen Alec since the "incident" and she was worried things might be awkward.   
  
"Max, late"   
  
"Bad morning" she answered without looking at him. She scans the room for Alec but he's nowhere to be found.   
  
"Bad week too?"   
  
"Oh, about that-"   
  
"Lemme guess, brain surgery right?" he sighs "Dont worry, you were covered." he adds gesturing to Alec standing by his locker. She glances at him and he smiles. Smiling awkwarding back she makes her way towards him.   
  
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"Who was the girl?"   
  
"It doesn't matter. Some girl I meet at Crash that night. She'd been there when I had that fight with Max. She told me should could make it better." He sips his coffee and places back down. "I was just tired of fighting the world, and Max. I didn't care anymore."   
  
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"Hey Max."   
  
"Hey"   
  
She stood there examining his face, and couldn't help but think of the events that took place the other night.   
  
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"I'd better go. I'm meeting one of my sources today." Logan said as he stood up.   
  
"Ok, I'll see you later Logan."   
  
"Bye Asha"   
  
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"Feeling better?"   
  
"Yeah, I do." Max smiled inwardly.   
  
"Hey! We're closing early. Sector police inspection!" yelled Normal.   
  
"Hey, you wanna get some coffee?" Max asks somewhat warily   
  
"Yeah, sure." he smirked.   
  
"Good, I know this place." she began. They walked out together, wondering who would be first to bring up the occurances of the other night.   
  
  
  
*What do you guys think? You can probably see why this is the _alternative_ chapter. It seemed to have too much closure when I finished writing it, and I dont want to end this story anytime soon.*   
  
  



	5. Running Wounded

  
  
  
**Disclaimer:** No, I dont own the Dark Angel Characters but they're sure fun to play with!   
**Rating:** Still PG13...man I thought I was gonna get into the smut a lot sooner. You'd think so after reading the first chapter. The story took a unexpected turn though. Let's see how this plays out.   
**Summary:** Max breaks down, and Alec picks up the pieces. Can he put them together?   
**Summery 4 Chapter:** During desprete times, Alec's got to be the hero. Now he has to battle fate and time to save her, but how long can he last "running wounded"?   
**Pairing:** Max/Alec cause they set the screen on fire!   
**Reviews:** Thanks guys so much for the reviews! They really make my day!!!   
  
  
***This, my friends, is the continuation of "Shaken, not Stirred." Like most of you, didn't like "Healing" that much after I finished writing it. I really had no intention what-so-ever to continue it. So, here you go!***   
  
  
Pulse, pulse, pulse....   
  
Blood weakly pumped beneath his finger...   
  
"Max...Max!" he yelled as he felt everything around him for the first time. It was the worry, fear, and odds weighing him down that made every breath, every echo, every pulse, enhansed by the power of three. The words seem to ooze from his lips like he was speaking in slow motion. She wouldn't wake when he shook her, ever since whatever had a hold of her had let go, and she temporarily stopped seizing. Suddenly, everything went all too fast.   
  
"MAAAAXXX!!"   
  
"She's gonna die, she's gonna die" his thoughts drawled.   
  
"Max, please don't die, don't die..." he chanted, his voice growing louder in volume. Frantically he hoisted her up in his arms, her arms flailing limply. Kicking open his apartment door he bolted out with Max in his grasp. She need to go to the hospital now.   
  
He would've been running blindly if it weren't for his cat like vision. In some ways, he still was.   
  
A Car. He needed a car to get her to the hospital. He didn't have one. Break into one? No, the silent alarm would have the sector police on his ass in a quick minute. His only real option was to run for it. He only hoped he would make it in time.   
  
Pound, pound, pound....   
  
His steps pounded the pavement, Max's arms swaying limply. She looked like a doll. A fragile porcelain doll with her face deathly white and her cheeks blotchy and pink. He didn't know how long he could carry her weight at these speeds. As her life slipped away so did the oxygen from his muscles and the will to work from his lungs.   
  
Pound, pound, pound....   
  
Soon he ran so fast and so long that each step was a heavy blow upon himself. It wouldn't be long before he'd hurt himself to much to go on. It was as if he nestled his own wound in his arms instead of the girl he looked upon. She was a part of him now, and her pains were just as lethal to him.  
  
"Your killin' me Maxie" he whispered as he ran on.  
  
He tried to keep his mind focused. He tired to fight the hazy wave of exhaustion dragging him down. The light at the end of the tunnel refreshed him. The hospital dimly lit wasn't much father.   
  
He had made it. He laid Max down carefully on the wet cement floor before he collapsed down himself, feverishly panting for air as his muscles started to spasm. Running like that, for so long, wasn't the smartest thing Alec had ever did, and he wouldn't done it for anyone but Max.   
  
Crawling the short distance on his knees to the clear glass doors he banged as frantically as he could muster, for he was still recovering himself.   
  
"Let, let me in.." He coughed.   
  
He leaned himself against the door tiredly beating his fist. Hospital orderlies gathered around and looked through the glass plane, their faces gray with the dim emergency surplus lighting the hospital was running on. Their eyes darting worriedly between some sickly girl lying on the ground and a desperate man requesting entrance. It was a strange site to behold in the dark and rain. An elderly nurse moved to let him in, but was stopped by a young looking doctor. Yelling through the glass his voice was muffled but Alec still heard him.   
  
"I'm sorry! We can't let you in! Blackout procedure! No new patients can be admitted-" he started but stopped at the looked Alec had shot him. He continued, starting to stutter "I'm s-sorry. Th-there's a hospital a few blocks over...maybe-" he stopped again, because no one was listening.   
  
Alec had crawled back to Max who was soaking from lying in the rain. He held her hand in his own and tried to warm them in her breath...she was cold. Alec turned his gaze to the circle of hospital orderlies looking at him with pity through the plane glass doors. On them he fixed a stare cold enough to freeze. Still holding her hand he screamed   
  
"She's gonna die!!! Do you understand that!" He yelled standing up and walking toward their guilty faces.   
  
"I wont let her die!!!"   
  
"I-I'm sorry sir..Hhospital blackout pro-"   
  
"Fuck your Hospital blackout procedure! LET ME IN! SHE'S NOT GONNA DIE!!!"  
  
He was becoming furious. There was no way he would stop after trying so hard, comming so far. They were gonna let him in whether they like it or not. Using the bulk of the strenth he had left, he slammed himself against the glass plane. The orderlies gasped in fear.   
  
BAM! BAM! BAM!...  
  
Alec thrashed at the door losing the last once of his sanity, screaming curses of frusteration. He could've crumbled in tears when the door would'nt give. Him comming here, trying to save Max's life, was all in vein. Not even him, an X-5 could break the reinforced glass.   
  
"Sir! Sir! Please stop!....sir?...sir?" the doctor began.   
  
Alec was back kneeling next to Max. She was completely pale now, the pink blotchiness gone from her face. His tears pooled over his eyes and onto her cheeks, but the rain made it so you couldn't tell. Alec didn't believe in God. He didn't think he could ever believe, until till now. Alec cast his eyes up to the black cloudy sky, blinking away raindrops. He only said one word as the people in the hospital looked on.   
  
"Please...." he whispered.   
  
Maybe he was lucky, or maybe someone heard him, but to everyone's surprise, the rain stopped. After three long wet days, the rain, had actually, stopped. The side effect of this was as simple as a light blinking. Something flashing red, snapping Alec's gaze from the sky. He looked around frantically. "Jim's Jelly Donuts" read in bright neon letters, across the street.   
  
Blink, blink, blink...   
  
The sign blinked and not to much later the rest of the lights in the city were blinking with it. And when the blinking soon stopped, everyone knew the power was back. Alec, in awe, sighed in relief as the dim, gray hospital lights shone a bright white.   
  
Alec kept his gaze on Max as hospital workers rushed out and picked her up. They hurriedly ran her into the hospital. Holding her hand as he ran with her stretcher he could only say one thing.   
  
"Thank you."   
  
But he wouldn't be thankful for long...   
  
  
  
  
*Hmm, what happens next? A few more twists and turns that may surprise you! Stick around!* 


	6. Mended, still broken

  
  
  
**Disclaimer:** Ok, if I _did_ actually own Dark Angel, do ya think I would be writing fanfiction? Mooooo!   
**Rating:** PG13 for strong language   
**Summary:** Max breaks down, and Alec picks up the pieces. Can he put them together?   
**Summery 4 Chapter:** He thought he lost her, and now emotions are running high. Will some unfortunate circumstances bring two people closer together?   
**Pairing:** Max/Alec cause X5's gotta stick together!   
**Reviews:** Please review you guys. I like constructive criticism and I'm a compliment whore!   
  
***Sorry for the long update you guys. Whilst deciding where to take this story and got side tracked and pulled into the world of Gilmore Girls fanfiction. Mybad! Oh and I'm scratching my original plan to add more heart-pounding action, because it's takes away from the romance!***   
  
  
He watched her. He studied the way the way her chest rose and fell, and the way her eyes moved even when shut. It was as if she was trying to see through her sleep, the face of the one who stood over her, and cried tears to mourn her hours ago. Still, she wasn't dead, she was just sleeping, and maybe dreaming. That was what held him, and kept him from losing his mind, due to the weight of his worry, and exhaustion.   
  
The nurse had told him she would be fine. Apparently she had been given some kind of drug, in an effort to force her body into making Trytophane on it's own. The negative side effect of this drug was that it had the possibility to go haywire and produce Trytophane in vast amounts. Not surprisingly too much of the chemical is just, if not more detrimental to the patient's health than the lack of it.   
  
Alec almost wanted to laugh. Damn Manticore and their blindness. They of all should've known, that you can never suppress anything for too long, not before it explodes and takes something down with it. That's what happened. Their drug, their miracle cure had failed and it soon burned itself out of Max's system. Of course Zenophane was immediately administered to counter it's effects and before he knew it she was fine. "She was fine," was what he kept telling himself in his mind, as if the very idea of her being _fine_ in a world like this was incredulous, and he had to force himself to believe it. Knowing Max she'd be back on her feet barking orders at him in no time. His wounds though, the way he felt seeing her broken and helpless, would take longer to heal and last for many more sleepless nights.   
  
He stood there, too shaky to sit next to her bed, watching her and thinking about everything that had happened this rainy night, and all that happened on the nights before that. In his mind he retold the events of when they first meet, realizing he had been an asshole from the start. He replayed the night he'd almost killed her, in an effort to take her barcode none less, and even now he couldn't put his finger one why he couldn't do it. That was the same night she saved his life for the first time, and he recalled all the times she'd saved him after that. Before long he was dazed and lost in thought.   
  
That's the way she first saw him when her eye lids fluttered open and her eyes adjusted to the light of her surroundings. She wasn't at all surprised to see him there, since he obviously brought her here. All she remembered was collapsing on his floor in a terrible pain, and how the sound of him calling her name fading slowly away. His voice was riddled with fear, and his eyes most likely mimicked it. Those eyes were focused on her now. His gaze seemed to burn through her as if he were in deep thought and hadn't been disturbed for hours. So in deep thought was he that he didn't notice her consciousness till she spoke.   
  
"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's impolite to stare," she croaked with a dry throat shaking Alec from his thoughts. He was so startled to hear her speak that it took him a while to muster the strength to speak, and even then it was only her name.   
  
"Max," his barely whispered, his voice choking up with impending tears, that he tried to smile away. Words couldn't express how overjoyed he felt at the moment despite him being physically and emotionally drained. He pulled a chair from against the wall and sat next to her bed immediately taking her hand in his own and holding it to his face. He inhaled the scent of her and reveled in the feel of her.   
  
He was smiling but tears lined his eyes as he held her hand, a gesture that spoke of nothing but his happiness to see her alive. Worry etched on her face as she examined him. There was deep purple bags underneath his bloodshot eyes, and he was still slightly damp from the rain. His lips were dry and cracked and his overall appearance was brooding and disheveled.   
  
"Hey, you look worse than me," she joked, but she couldn't tell from his expression whether or not he heard her.   
  
"I thought I lost you Max," he said a few moments later as Max felt moisture invading her own eyes. Almost uncomfortable with his show of emotion towards her she racked her brain with ways to lighten the mood as wetness clouded her vision. For the second time that night the silence was a piercing echo.   
  
Minutes passed at still neither had said a word, and Max finally felt herself relax. She realized that she was content there, and he held her hand, and after all that had happened that night both deserved to savior the moment.   
  
**I know, this is kind of a blander chapter than the rest. Not much romance, not much action, but I wanted to go with something calmer to tie the dramatic chapters together**  
  
  



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